


take me by the hand, take me somewhere new

by capsize (copenhagenborn)



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avs playoffs elimination fic, Dumb Hockey Boys, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Misunderstandings, Polyamory Negotiations, mentions of feeling sad and miserable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 05:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18804994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/copenhagenborn/pseuds/capsize
Summary: “I never asked you to come,” Alex finally grinds out, trying to decide if it’s worth it getting out of the bed and sleep on the couch. “I don’t need you pity.”He had been pretty much set for the future as they left the plane. Alex would leave for BC in a few days, spend a couple of weeks with friends and family who had nothing to do with the Avalance; and then he would come back to JT and Tyson in a committed relationship who didn’t need him to act as a buffer when they couldn’t deal with their feelings on their own.or, the Avs loses to the Sharks, and the boys are stupid about feelings.





	take me by the hand, take me somewhere new

When Tyson scores in the third, there’s the tiniest piece of Alex’s heart that says they’ll make; that somehow Gabe will come through again with a game-tying goal, or Nate by the sheer power of his frustration dragging them out of the second round.

But the buzzer comes without another goal and the Avs lose to the San Jose Sharks in game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The locker room is subdued when the media has left for the night, Bednar on their heels as Gabe starts his own heartachingly inspiring speech about building for the future and not letting one loss get them down.

They all pretend not to notice when he starts to tear up and instead lets Barrie bully him into helping with Nate’s stuff. “He can hardly walk, Landesnerd. How do you expect him to carry his gear?” Tyson complains loudly and shakes his head as Nate looks on suitably miserable sitting in sweats and an old Team Canada hoodie that is both too old and wrong-numbered to be his own.

Gabe frowns, looking thorn between Nate and the rest of the team but finally moves to help stuff Nate’s things into a bag. It seems to be enough to get the team moving and soon they’re leaving the visitor’s locker room; gear safely left with the equipment manager and a bottle of Jack stashed in Gravy’s backpack.

Everyone pairs off on the plane.

Most of the d-men are sitting at the front, led by Z who hasn’t stopped talking shit since they left the ice. But Gravy is smiling as he leans against Barbs, so for once it might be wanted. EJ sits a few rows down with Sam and a solemn looking Cale between them. He doesn’t look sad like most of them does, teary eyed and scratchy voices from giving it their all and not getting a win in return.  

Instead, Cale looks determined.

With playoffs taking up all of their time, it’s easy to forget Cale had a whole other life before coming to the NHL only a few weeks ago, that he almost won the Frozen Four with the Minutemen and was named the winner of the Hobey Baker Award before going off to score his first NHL goal in his first NHL game against his hometown team.

So even though much of Cale’s story reminds Alex of himself, there’s one big difference between the two.

Alex had come to a struggling team with a leading centre that didn’t want to be a part of the team and tried to isolate himself from the rest of them; Nate who wasn’t the beast he is today, but a kid fresh off his ELC trying to make a bad team better, and Gabe only a year older than Alex but already a captain and trying to make the team a better place to be for newcomers while placating Duchene to keep down the animosity.   

Alex was brought up in misery, in trial and failure until they finally managed something that tasted like success, with Nate, Mikko and Gabe finally playing like they were meant to, a goaltender who could actually stop the puck and a d-core that would support him.

Cale came to a team already succeeding, to a playoff team with a top scoring line and a first round upset in their favour. He came in fire and flames with a thirst left over from the NCAA finals and something to prove. There’s an entitlement in how he looks at the team now, a sense of propriety that Alex hasn’t seen with any of the rookies yet – not quite disappointment, but a _promise_ in his eyes as he cuddles closer to Sammy.

Tbear is tucked in the middle of the plane with his harem of blondes spread out around him. Nate is leaning against the window on his good shoulder, his legs in Wilson’s lap as Tyson leans over the table to keep their conversation going. Mikko looks to be whining as he leans against Gabe, hands fiddling with his iPad while he watches his captain with sharp eyes as if he’s afraid he might get up and leave him. Gabe who is sitting in one of the outer seats, a hand on Mikko’s neck and looking over the rest of the team like a hawk – ready to go back into captain mode if anyone needs him to.

JT and Tyson are tucked in near the back of the plane, looking lost in their own little world as they cuddle up together. Neither of them is looking at the aisle, so Alex lets himself stop and just watch them for a second, how well Tys fits against JT, soft hands intertwined across his stomach.

They’ve been through a lot this season. Both with Tyson’s stint with the Eagles, having to move out of the house only to be back again a couple of weeks later, and injuries suddenly piling up. Alex knows it has been hard to find moments for themselves, knows he’s part of the reason they’ve had to comprise their time with each other.

For a second, he considers turning around and finding someone else to spend the plane ride with; someone who won’t feel the need to include him just because they live together.

But for now, JT looks up and opens his arms, and not even Alex can say no to that when they just lost the second round.  

JT gently nudges Tyson until there’s room for Alex to slide in, to fold himself up and lean against JT who’s been so fucking solid through this entire series and easily taking his weight now. Tyson’s head is on his chest, but he looks up at Alex with a smile, soft and tired and humming slightly as he leans in to kiss his forehead before relaxing back against JT and lets the two of them take the weight of his thighs thrown lazily across the seats.

JT snorts, but it’s nothing if not fond as he puts his arm around Alex, squeezing him so tightly that on any other day it would hurt, but for now it’s great, appreciated and oh so needed. He leans into it, flexes his arms and testing JT’s hold on him, but his grip doesn’t waiver, so Alex relaxes and lets himself close his eyes, Tyson’s hand in his as they listen to the soft beats of JT’s shitty music.

Alex barely remembers a time before this, back when Tyson was new to the team, bright eyed but shy in a way Alex can’t see him being now. He remembers the sounds and bumps in the nights after Tyson’s call up, the bruised lips and odd hickeys he noticed on JT’s neck brushed off and forgotten just as quickly. Clearest he remembers stumbling down the stairs and finding them on the couch, out of breath panting as Tyson grinded down in JT’s lap, hands frantically holding himself up by JT’s shoulders as the room was filled with the wet sounds of their mouths moving against each other.

Alex had felt sad then, a sharp pang of something he couldn’t quite place but now greets as an old friend.

Because even as they had invited him to join them in bed, Tyson’s smirks and JT’s fond rolling eyes as they had pulled him down to the couch between them before Tyson sank to his knees in front of him; Alex had known it wasn’t going to last forever, that this would be the last time they’re all together like this.

Just like Tbear and his forwards, everything will change when the plane lands and the exit interviews are done. Mikko will go back to Finland, Willy to wherever in the States he’s from. Nate will slink back to Nova Scotia and come back with a broken heart because Crosby once again doesn’t want to make an actual effort when it means putting effort into something other than hockey. Because at the end of the day, it’s Tyson and Gabe who are together, and no amount of feel good hook ups during the season will change that.

Relationship during the season is one thing. It’s easy to hook up with a teammate when they’re all so finely tuned to each other’s moods and needs; even easier to become emotionally compatible when they go through the same cycles of ecstasy and complete misery until they’re near synchronisation where sexual intimacy is only a tiny step of the giant fall off a cliff they’re already descending together.

Staying together outside of the vacuum of hockey is the real challenge.

 

They get back to the house after a muted goodbye on the tarmac.

Gabe had made sure to go through the line and make them all promise to call him if anything came up or they needed a place to stay for the night, hugging them tight with firm eyes and soft words of encouragement. Even Barrie’s snarky exterior was looking frayed as he pressed himself against Nate, only speaking up when Gabe got too sappy and needed to be shut down.

Neither of them wants to drive home, but JT with his steady hands and no visible clues of sadness takes the keys with a deep sigh and a pointed look, “You owe me, got it? I want breakfast in bed and no early morning wakeups because you need to pee. I don’t care if the room gets too bright, no one moves before I wake up on my own.”

Alex snorts but stays quiet as Tyson nods eagerly, “That’s my boy! Eggs and a shake coming soon to a bed near you.”

“Fuck off, Tys.” JT scoffs and pulls out of the parking lot. “I’ve seen what you do in the kitchen and I wouldn’t call it cooking. You better get Kerfy on board if you don’t want to sleep on the couch tonight.”

Alex is already dreading waking up int eh morning only to pack down his life and move to BC for the next couple of months before the Avs calls them home. Waking up a bit earlier to make JT breakfast before they go in for locker clean out won’t be the biggest of his problems.

When they get to the house, Alex goes in first and dumps his bag by the door. JT comes zooming past him with a sulking Tyson on his heels, his head hanging between his shoulders as they disappear out of the living room.

Alex cannot help but to linger, tired and alone as he leans against the now closed door. He can feel the exhaustion in his bones, heavy and mind-numbing, and he really should go to bed if he wants the shaking to stop any time soon. But he can’t make himself go up to his room, to be alone with the hurt that’s slowly turning into disappointment and anger, twisting until the taste on his tongue is acrid and his breath starts to shorten.

Tyson comes back alone and for a while they just look at each other, the Gatorade loose in his hands as he watches Alex with a frown. “We’ll get them next year, eh?” He looks sad, not that Alex can fault him with the minor existential crisis he’s having at the very moment. But there’s a look in Tyson’s eyes he hasn’t seen in a while, brown eyes shadowed with gloom as he hunches in on himself.

And maybe Alex should ask him about that; maybe it would help both of them to talk it through. But instead, he shrugs.

They both know getting into the playoffs is nothing short of impossible during a normal season, never mind the chaos of a season they’ve been through this past year. And even then, it isn’t even certain he’ll be back next season with both him and JT becoming RFAs and not hearing anything from management.  

“They’re focusing on the big fish first, Alexander.” His agent had said in a stern voice over the speakers of his phone, his parents nodding along. “That means Rantanen first, then comes the draft and maybe free agency. RFAs like you –“ players with less than 50 points per season, Alex kindly supplied – “ aren’t the focus before training camp comes closer. There’s no reason to worry about their silence, they just want to make sure you have the best team to come back to.”

“Bed?” Tys asks, soft and tired as he yawns. His arms stretch above his head and shows off that small sliver of stomach above his sweatpants that Alex loves. “I’m beat.” It’s open ended and seems a bit like an invitation, but to what he doesn’t know.

So Alex shrugs again. “I think I’ll have a shower first.” He feels gross in a visceral way he isn’t sure is going to be helped by a shower, but there’s no point in not trying.

“Oh?” Tyson replies, the end of his mouth quirking up as he blinks, looking a bit more awake as he watches Alex with narrowed eyes.

“Yeah, I need some time to think, I guess. Process, you know.” Tyson nods.

He follows him up the stairs, quiet steps as they hear JT move around in his room at the end of the hall. Just as they part ways – Tys down to JT’s room, Alex to his own on the right – he reaches for Alex’s hand and gives it a squeeze, “Alright, don’t use all the hot water, yeah?” he says smiling softly.

Alex frowns. He doesn’t think Tyson’s even looked at their water bill since moving back in, never mind actually paid rent, but he nods anyway, “Sure.” He continues down the hall and shuts the door behind him with a shuddering breath, listening to Tyson’s steps as he disappears down the hall until the soft thud of a door being closed comes.

For once he hates that he fought tooth and nail for the room with an ensuite, that he left JT and Tys to share one bathroom. Because at least then he would have a reason to stop by their room.

 

After spending far too long under the hot water, Alex crawls into bed. He ignores the way his phone is vibrating every now and then, and instead finally lets fatigue pull him under.

There’s a faint bump in the hallway and someone cussing before the door to his room is slammed open, rudely awaking him. “Why is it so d – are you sleeping, Kerfy?” Tyson asks affronted, his voice too loud for Alex’s tired ears. He flicks on the switch, bathing the room in light and making Alex squint.

“I was trying to, yeah.” He says with a slur and resolutely keeps his back to the door. “So you know, if you don’t mind.” He doesn’t quite make the shoo-motion, but he’s temped to do so when he doesn’t hear him leave.

“I told you he was being stubborn,” JT says quieter as he moves through the room. There’s a rustle in the background before the bed sinks down beside him. “Harvard always was a second-tier school.”

“You went to fucking Michigan,” Alex splutters as he flips over in the bed and comes to face a droopy eyed JT, “Harvard is a – “ he stops to watch Tyson climb his way across the bed before nudging Alex closer to JT and into the middle of the bed so he can take Alex’s other side. “What are you doing?”

They both look ready for bed, soft clothes and minty fresh breath as they burrow down under the covers. Tyson already looks half asleep as he leans his head on Alex’s shoulder, an arm slung across his waist pushing him further up against JT who easily takes his weight and fits him against his chest.

“We were trying to sleep, but someone decided to be dumb and forget about the time,” JT grunts as he puts pressure on Alex’s neck until he lets himself be moved into position with a humming Tyson behind him.

Alex frowns, “You don’t have to, I mean. I’m a big boy, Jimothy, you don’t have to coddle me.”

“Right,” Tyson says wryly and butts his head gently against his shoulder. “Which is why we’re sleeping in this tiny bed that wasn’t meant for three hockey players. If you don’t need to be coddled, then what the hell are we doing here, Kerf?”

Alex tenses, his muscle almost screaming in protest at the sudden and uncomfortable strain. He feels the heat rushing to his cheeks and thanks JT for turning off the lights before he crawled into bed, because he can only imagine the colour of his face right out – a sour mix of anger, frustration and embarrassment at Tyson’s words.

“I never asked you to come,” he finally grinds out, trying to decide if it’s worth it getting out of the bed and sleep on the couch. “I don’t need you pity.”

He had been pretty much set for the future as they left the plane. Alex would leave for BC in a few days, spend a couple of weeks with friends and family who had nothing to do with the Avalance; and then he would come back to JT and Tyson in a committed relationship who didn’t need him to act as a buffer when they couldn’t deal with their feelings on their own.  

It would be weird going from touching your friends’ dicks daily and back to pretending you’re nothing but teammates. But Alex had known he could make it work if they just gave him a few weeks to get over the feelings he got when all three of them were together.

He didn’t need this to be his last taste of JT&Tyson, he was fine with his memories.

 

“What?”

Alex exhales deeply. “Look, if I made you feel uncomfortable, I’m sorry, but this isn’t necessary. I just need a few weeks to deal with it and then I’ll be alright again, okay? There’s no need for you to treat me like a child.” He repeats slowly. He sits up, easily shrugging off the loose arms around his around torso, and puts some distance between the three of them.

Tyson looks confused as he falls towards JT, narrowed eyes barely visible from the moonlight shining through the curtains.

“It’s the kinda thing you do,” JT says dryly and reaches for him again. But Alex stays back watching him with sharp eyes making JT sigh, “I don’t know how they do it in Mass, but usually you don’t let the guy you’re dating go to sleep in his own misery. I’m sorry we assumed you wanted to be comfortable in a proper bed, but I honestly don’t mind having to squeeze if it works better for you.”

Alex narrows his eyes, refusing to let his jaw drop. “What did you just say?”

Tyson whines as JT forces out another sharp exhale. “Please just get back in bed, Kerf. This is not the time.”

“Not the time for what? First you say we’re dating and then you refuse to talk about it?” Alex knows he sounds more hostile than the subject demands. But he feels behind, caught off guard and slow in a way he remembers hating from school. “Fuck, do you even think before you – “

“We thought you knew!” JT replies in the same harsh tone. He’s leaning on his elbows now, watching Alex with dark eyes after flickering on the light. “ _I_ thought you had figured out it was more than just fucking for us, for me.”

Alex splutters. “How was I supposed to know that? You guys never said anything!”

“It’s not exactly something you just blurt out, you know.”  

“No,” he says patiently. He meets his eyes head on and doesn’t waver when JT lets out another breath. There’s a part of him that feels bad for Tys having to hear this, the two of them arguing. But he is a part of this too, as much as his anger is directed towards JT right now, Tyson had done the same fucking thing and kept silent. “Which is why I wanted a mature conversation about feelings. I should have known it was too much to ask for from two guys with the emotional IQ of a seventeen-year old trying to get their dick wet.”

“What did you want me to do? ‘Hey Kerf, I know Tys got sent down and we might not see him again for the rest of the season but we’re kinda in love with you, so why don’t we facetime him and figure out a schedule?’ or would it have been better while you were stressed about us not being in a playoff spot? Or maybe the night before game seven against the Flames? Against the –“

“What?”

“We might not have a Harvard IQ, but I do know this isn’t something you just spring on someone during a high-pressure moment, Kerf.”

His voice is still faint to his ear, scratchy and airy as Kerf blinks too fast, but he can’t stop watching him with wide eyes.

“Shit,” another voice, _Tyson_ , says, “Like in the middle of an argument? Fucking hell, Timothy.”

“Oh fuck, Kerf I didn’t –“

“You’re, in love with me?” Alex cuts them off. His voice is still soft, the rushing in his ears hasn’t gone down. But Tyson looks fond rather than frustrated, and when he looks back at JT he’s flushing a brilliant red, but there’s a grin on his lips and that’s, that seems alright to him. “Both of you?”

Tyson laughs, but it’s soft and fond and everything he associates with Tyson outside of the rink. “Yeah Kerf, we’re in love with you.”

“And you want to keep having sex, all three of us? Into the offseason?”

JT snorts but even he sounds fond. “I mean technically, but we would like something a bit more relationshippy if you were into that as well.”

“Like boyfriends,” Tyson adds. JT nods his agreement. “We would like to be boyfriends, all three of us, Kerf.”

His breath hitches without permission, but it’s good this time. He leans forwards and lets himself be caught by their arms, hitting the bed with a soft thud as they cuddle up around him. “But you’re already together, why would you want me too? I mean –“

“No, we can stroke your ego if you need us to.” JT says wryly, but his hand is back on Alex’s chest so it can’t be that bad. “We did try the whole friends with benefits turning into something more thing, and it works sure, but. You’re just as much part of it, Kerfy. The three of us works, it feels better when you’re here with us.”

A beat goes by before Alex remembers it’s his turn to talk, “Oh.”

JT rolls his eyes, “Now you’re running out of words? You had plenty to say just before.”

“Well yeah,” Alex says faintly and runs his fingers through JT’s beard – it’s a shame it has to go tomorrow, he really does like it. “But that was before my boyfriends said they loved me, I guess I should give them a bit of leeway for that.”

There’s a sharp inhale and they both turn to look at Tyson who’s grinning, “So you accept, agree – whatever – to be our boyfriend?”

“If you’re, I mean. Yeah, Tys. I’ll be your boyfriend.”

Tyson is quick to lean in for a kiss, chapped lips against his own. It’s a sweet kiss, soft and no tongue, both too exhausted to deal with erections, but the likes the way Tyson feels against him, the way he can feel JT against his back as a long line of heat.

JT lets out a noise of complaint, but Tyson holds strong, smirking against his lips until JT has to reach around and push him away himself. “He’s my boyfriend too, Tys. You can’t hog the boyfriend.”

“I can try,” Tyson says crossly. But he’s letting out keen noises as they kiss, sucking in sharp breaths again as JT cradles Alex’s face in his hand and kisses him slow just like Tyson did, but oh so different. “No yeah, you can have the boyfriend for a bit,” he adds breathless and leans back against the bedframe.

Alex snorts and lets the kiss go on for just a bit longer before he direct JT towards his jaw, “You know, the boyfriends has a name.”

Tyson hums quietly and reaches out to take his hand, the other one cupping JT’s neck, “Yeah, I guess you do, Kerf.”


End file.
